Solo device for player-pianos and the like.



'P. B. KLUGH.

SOLO DEVICE FOR PLAYER PIANOS AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED APR.8,1910.

1,183,210. Patented 11331111916.

4 SHEETS-SHEET l.

P. B. KLUGH.

SOLO DEVICE FOR PLAYER PIANOS-AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 8. 1910.

Patented May16, 1916.

4 SHEETStSHEET 2.

x COLUMBIA PLANQGRAPH co., WASHINGTD N, D. C.

wm I Dd' In LUPIN IN n:

P. B. KLUGH.

SOLO DEVICE FOR PLAYER P|ANOS AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED APII. II. 1910.

1 1 83,2 1 O. l Patented May 16, 1916.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

THE COLUMBIA PLANOuR/IPH COI. WASHINGTON. D. c.

P. B. KLUGH.

SOLO DEVICE FOR PLAYER PIANOS AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION msn APR.s.191o.

1,183,210. l Patented May16,1916.

4 SHETS-SHEET4.

aff/51M l @1% W6@ UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PAUL BROWN KLUGI-I, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE CABLE COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 16, 1916.

Application filed April 8, 1910. Serial No. 554,140.

To all ywhom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, PAUL BROWN KLUGH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Solo Devices .for Player- Pianos and the like, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to they accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specication.

My invention relates to mechanical musical instruments and especially to a type of instrument commonly called a player piano or piano player; that is to say, an instrument in which a traveling music sheet is used to produce the music.

My present invention relates more particularly to the accentuation c )f certain notes or series of notes so as to make some notes more prominent than others and thereby bring out solo edects.

The object of the invention is to produce a simple, practical and effective arrangement or mechanism of this kind.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a vertical section of a player piano embodying my present invention. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of a portion of the music sheet and of that part of the tracker board over which the same travels. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of a portion of the said player piano, parts of the same being broken away for convenience of illustration. Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a portion of said player' piano to illustrate the mechanism for bringing the solo arrangement into action and cutting the same out of action. Fig. 5 is a plan view of a part ofthe mechanism illustrated in Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a. vertical section of certain pneumatic mechanism employed in connection with the solo arrangement. Fig. 7 is a vertical section of the pneumatic mechanism for operating the piano action. Fig. 8 is a front elevation of a portion of the tracker board. Fig. 9 is a cross section of said tracker board. Fig. 10 is a view showing a portion of the wind inducing or bellows arrangement and certain indicating connections associated therewith. Fig. 11 is a view of a detail of construction, a modification of an arrangement shown in Fig. 8. Fig. 12 is a perspective view of the mechanism for operating the hammer rest rail, together with a part of said rail. i

The drawings, especially Figs. 1 and 3,

illustrate the upper portion of a player piano having certain features of piano construction of the usual type. For example, there is shown a case having a plate 1, carrying piano strings 2, and having a hinged lid or cover 3. Piano keys are shown at 1 arranged above a key bed 5 extended between the ends 6 of the piano case. Hammers 7, for the strings 2, are arranged to be actuated by the piano action operated by the keys 1. A soft pedal bar or hammer rest rail S is an ranged in front of the hammers 7 and connected in any well known way so as to be actuated by the soft pedal to throw or move the hammers toward the rear of the piano and the strings 2 when. the soft pedal is depressed. The common mechanism for operating the hammer rest rail is shown in Fig. 12. Said mechanism consists of a vertically arranged rod Sla extending down and resting upon the end of a lever 8b whose opposite end is actuated by the soft pedal Sc.

The piano action is arranged to be operated by striking pneumatics 10 operating in connection with lever arms or levers 11, which latter are arranged to act upwardly upon the upper portion of the member 12 ot the piano action. The pneumatics 10 are conveniently mounted upon a structure 13 (Fig. 7 which provides a support for said pneumatics and also provides and contains the pneumatic mechanism for operating the same. Said structure 13 is conveniently provided with pneumatic passages 14, 15 and 16; the passage 14 being for communication with the tracker board tube and leading to a valve pouch 14e; the passage 15 being the vacuum or wind chest, or being in communication with the same; and the passage 16 being extended from the pneumatic 10 to a valve 17 which controls communication of the passage 16 with t-he passage 15 and with the outside air.

The arrangement which I show herein for producing solo eifects involves the control of blow-striking devices, which in the case of a player piano may be the piano hammers, so as to vary the length of stroke or extent of striking movement of such devices and thereby vary the note or tone strength, the note or tone strength varying, of course, from loud to soft according as the length of stroke varies from long to short. By giving certain hammers or blow-striking devices a greater length of stroke than others, the tones sounded thereby will be relatively louder or stronger and solo effects will thereby be produced. These solo effects may be produced automatically; that is to say, the mere playing of the composition by running the music sheet through the instrument may result in the desired solo effects being brought out by the combined action of the instrument and music sheet without manual aid or intervention.

The strength of both solo, or accentuated notes, and accompaniment, or unaccentuated notes may be varied at will through a change in degree of the operating pneumatic pressure, and the relative strength of solo over accompaniment notes may be varied also at will through an adjustment, such as described, of the stroke or the eX- tent of striking movement of the blow-striking devices. This method of independent variation in the degree of power applied to operate both solo and accompaniment note sounding devices and in the adjustment of such devices to graduate the distinction of solo from accompaniment notes permits a great range of desirable and advantageous eects. The prominence of the solo notes over the accompaniment notes may be diminished or increased while the volume of tone produced by playing the musical composition may be varied to produce crescendo or diminuendo effects in any easy and natural manner.

In a general way, the arrangement shown herein for carrying out the broader purposes of the invention involves a series of pneumatic mechanisms, preferably one for each piano hammer, normally adapted to hold the hammers in position to make short strokes. lVhen actuated, however, these mechanisms allow the hammers to make relatively long strokes. Suitable provision is made for controlling the actuation of these pneumatic mechanisms by the music sheet and tracker board. Thus, by actuating certain only of the pneumatic mechanisms, certain hammers will be allowed to have long strokes and will therefore produce relatively loud or strong tones, whereas the other hammers, with their strokes kept relatively short, will produce relatively soft tones.

Referring now more in detail to the particular type of construction which I show herein for carrying out the invention, a series of pneumatics 18 is conveniently arranged in front of the piano action and pro- -vided with pins or rods 19 which extend to and make contact with the front of the piano hammers 7. These rods 19 pass through and are supported by a suitable guide-way 20 suitably mounted in the piano casing. These rods 19 are preferably provided at their rear ends with felt washers 21 suitable for making contact with the hammer Shanks. The pneumatics 18 when in an open or expanded condition, as shown in Fig. 1, cause the hammers 7 to be forced back of their normal positions so that their strokes are shorter than normal and the ltones produced are therefore relatively soft.

to the pneumatics 18. The passages 23 are in communication with pneumatic tubes 25 leading to a tracker board 26, Figs. 1, 2 and 9. This tracker board 26 has the usual apertures 27, which are connected by pneumatic tubes 28 with valve mechanism for the striking pneumatics 10, and ysaid tracker is also provided with supplemental apertures 30, which are conveniently in the form of elongated slots or slits and are in communica- .tion with the tubes 25 leading to the valve mechanism for the pneumatics 18. The slits 30 are slightly to one side of the usual apertures 27 and are in the rear of the same so that they are reached first by the traveling music sheet 31 in its forward movement. The traveling music sheet 31 is provided with perforations 32, preferably of usual width, and also with perforations 33, wider than the perforations 32. The perforations 33 are for solo notes and are each of such width as to open both an aperture 27 and its associated supplemental aperture 30 as well, shown in Fig. 2. Thus the traveling music sheet in its forward movement will cause .the usual apertures 27 to be opened by the narrow perforations 32 and the usual apertures 27 and their associated slits 30 to be opened by the wide perforations 33. rIhe pneumatics 18 'being normally eX- panded, the result will be that notes corresponding to the narrow perforations 32 will be played softly and notes corresponding to the wide perforations 33 will be played loudly and will therefore come out prominently as solo or accentua-ted notes. This will be so for the reason that the perforations 32 will cause 'the striking pneumatics 1() to actuate the corresponding hammers from short stroke positions, whereas `the perforations 33 will cause the corresponding hammers to be actuated from long stroke positions, the hammer controlling pneumatics 18 for such hammers having been actuated to place such hammers in long stroke v positions beforethe striking'` pneumatics 10 therefor have been brought into action. Thus the perforations 33 of the music sheet play the solo notes and the perforations 32 the accompaniment.

As a convenient arrangement and matter of further and specific improvement, the tracker board Q6 is provided with a series of projecting tubes or nipples 34 for the solo tubes 25, and also with a set of tubes or nipples 35 for the striking pneumatic tubes 28. These nipples 34 and 35, together with the ends of the pneumatic tubes connected therewith, are conveniently incased in aliousing formed by the casings 36 for the music sheet carrying spools 37 and 38.

Change in degree of the operating pneumatic pressure may be accomplished by a number of diil'erent methods. Reference is here made to one of these methods in which the stated change in degree is accomplished through the usual foot-operated bellows arrangement and in which the varying degrees of pressure operating the striking pneumatics 10 are approximately identical with those in said bellows arrangement. Under some circumstances it is desirable to know or indicate the amount or degree of existing pneumatic pressure and, for this purpose, I have provided an arrangement which comprises a pointer 40 arranged in some convenient place before the operator, preferably near the music sheet which he ordinai-ily watches in playing. If desired, this pointer can be directly in front of the music sheets, as shown in Fig. 3, so that it can follow a line on the music sheet, should one be provided for it. This pointer is carried by a jointed rod 41 which extends to the left hand side of the piano case and is connected with a lever 42 which in turn is connected to a rock shaft 43 which extends down toward the bottom of the piano and terminates near the bellows 44 (Fig. 10), its lowerl end being mounted in a bearing 45, secured to the instrument case, and being bent so as to form a swinging arm 46. To this arm 46 a link 47 is pivotally connected and this link 47 extends to the movable member 48 of the bellows reservoir. Thus it will be seen that the movement of the member 48 of the reservoir will cause a movement of the pointer 40 through the intervening actuating mechanism and this movement will correspond with the pneumatic pressure in the reservoir which, of course, is controlled by the pumping action of the feet of the operator. If desired, the pointer 40 may be associated with a small indicator card arranged at one side of the traveling music sheet, as shown in Fig. 11.

I desirably arrange so that the solo mech-" anism can be used or not, as desired. Ix,

show herein an arrangement for accom-l plishing this which has a number of advantageous features. In this arrangement,

shifted to a more forward position the strip 51 will act upon the rods 19, through the medium of stops 19a on said rods, so as to force the rods forwardly and thereby withdraw them from the hammers 7, allowing the latter to assume their usual or full stroke position of rest. The pneumatics 18 will be collapsed mechanically by this shifting movement of the member to move the rods 19. The member 50 is supported, so as to permit its shifting oscillatory movement, by means of the lugs 52 secured to its ends and pivotally connected with rods 53 supported upon a fixed cross piece The shifting movement of the member 50 is accomplished by an arm secured to one end of said member 50 and connected with a. vertical i'eciprocatorv rod 56 which is in turn connected pivotally with one arm of a bell crank 57 pivoted at 58 to the rear face of the key bed 5. The other arm of the bell crank 57 is pivotally connected with an operating' rod 60 which is in turn pivotally connected with a lever 61 pivoted to the key bed at 62. A handle 63 is also pivoted at 62 and is arranged to act against a stop 64 on the lever 61 so that a swinging movement of the handle 63 to the right` as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 4, will swing the rod 60 to the left, as indicated by another arrow in d figure, and thereby move the rod 56 downwardly, which will cause the arm to be depressed and the member 50 to be rocked so that the strip 51 thereof will be si. `.ing forwardly and the hammer controlling rods 19 be thrown forwardly so as to release the piano hammers and allow them to swing or move down and forwardly to their full stroke positions. The lever 61 is provided with a spring clip 65 capable of engaging the handle 63/when the latter is moved into position Y for operation of lever 61, as hereinafter described, and of normally retaining the handle in such position. The rear end of the handle is bent at 66 and connected by link 67 with one arm of a bell crank 68. The bell crank 68 is pivotallf.T secured at 69 to the key-bed 5 and its other arm connected with one end of a valve stem 78 for the operation of a cut-oli valve 8O in valve box 84. located in the path of w'id from the bellows and reservoir to the solo action. The purpose of this arrangement is to allow he handle 63 to be swung clear in under the key bed and out of the way and te cause it, when this is done, to automatically throw 'l the solo mechanism out of action. This will occur by reason of the fact that when the handle 63 is swung about the pivot 62, as indicated in Fig. 5, the link 67 will actuate the bell crank 68, causing the latter in turn to actuate the lever 61 in such a way as to move the rod to the left, as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 4, with the same result as before described upon the rod 56, arm 55 and member 50, and move the valve 8O to cover the port 82 in valve boX 84 and cut off pneumatic connection of the wind supplying bellows 44 with the valve mechanism of pneumatics 18 and thus dispense with actuation thereof when the slits 30 are uncovered by the music-sliect 31. l/Vhen the handle 63 is thrown against the stop 64, the valve 80 is opened and the handle 63 is held rigid with respect to the lever 61 by the spring clip 65 to operate the member 50. The handle 63 is preferably constructed with a vertically adjustable end portion 63a, pivoted to the main portion of the handle so as to be adjustable relatively to the same and provided with a thumb lock nut 63h, whereby the portion 63a may be secured at the height desired by different operators, either to accommodate the hand or knee. It will be seen that this arrangement not only permits the solo mechanism to be put in condition to be operative for solo eiects and to be thrown out of action entirely, but it also permits such solo mechanism to be controlled to vary or modulate the accompaniment effects. This may be done by shifting or manipulating the handle 63 between its positions of full action and no action of the solo mechanism so that the motion of the rods 19 will be varied suliciently to vary the strokes of the piano hammers between shortest stroke and full stroke. This control of the accompaniment will obviously be relatively to the solo strength, but, as the latter also can be varied by varying the pneumatic pressure, it will be seen that a wide range of control both of solo and accompaniment is permitted both conjointly and independently of one another. The accompaniment strength may be indicated, if desired, and to this end I have shown a simple arrangement for that pur pose. This arrangement involves a pointer which may be arrangedat a convenient position, as for example near or in front of the music sheet as shown in Fig. 3. The pointer 70 is mounted on a jointed rod 71 which is extended to the left side of the piano case and there pivotally connected with a swinging arm 72 mounted on a vertically arranged rock shaft 73 having its lower end bent to form an arm 74 which is pivotally connected by a link 75 with an arm 76 on the member 50, so that, when the latter oscillates, the pointer 7 0 will be correspondingly shifted by the intervening mech-Y anism. If desired, the music sheet may lhave a line to indicate 'the accompaniment strength vand the pointer 70 may be caused to follow this line by properly manipulating the controlling handle 63.

The hammer rail 8 controls the strokes of the hammers 7 for solo or accentuated notes so that the movement of this rail toward and away from the strings varies the strength of such solo or accentuated notes. This variation maybe between the extremes of long and short strokes of the hammers. Thus it will be seen that by the soft pedal 8C operating the hammer rail 8, in the usual or any desired way, the strength ot the solo or accentuated notes or tones may be varied throughout the entire range from loud to soft, and vice versa, and at the same time the strength of the accompaniment notes or tones can be varied throughout the same range by means of the handle 63 and its cooperating mechanism.

The tracker board and music sheet herein set forth are disclosed and claimed in my copending application, Serial No. 554,142, filed April 8, 1910, tracker board and music sheet.

normally in relatively short stroke position, Y

means comprising the music sheet for automatically lengthening the strokes of certain of said members to produce solo or accentuated effects, and means for varying the short j l. stroke position of the said members.

3. A mechanical musical instrument having blow striking members and also having means whereby the stroke of its blow striking members isy reduced or relatively short and also whereby the stroke of the blow striking members may be lengthened for solo or accent effects and also having means whereby the length of stroke of the accent and accompaniment members may be independently controlled.

4. A mechanical musical instrument of the class described having pneumatics located and arranged to reduce or shorten the normal stroke of the blow striking members and also having means whereby the strokes of certain blow striking members are lengthened so as to produce solo or accent eects, and also having means whereby the short stroke position of the Striking members may be adjusted.

5. The combination with the blow striking members, of means for automatically controlling the length of stroke of said members to produce solo or accentuated effects, and means for varying at will the short stroke position of said members.

6. The combination with the blow striking members, of pneumatic mechanism for controlling the length ot stroke of said members to produce solo or accentuated effects, and means for cooperating with said pneumatic mechanism to vary the short stroke position of said members.

7. The combination with the blow striking members, of pneumatic mechanism normally holding the same in relatively short stroke position and arranged when actuated to allow said members to have relativelyT long strokes, and a shiftable member c0- operating with and acting upon said pneumatic mechanism to vary the position in which said members are normally held.

8. The combination with the blow striking members, of pneumatics holding said members normally in relatively short stroke position and also adapted when actuated to lengthen the stroke of said members, and a shiftable member having an oscillating motion arranged to act upon and control said pneumatics to cause them to vary the short stroke position of said members.

9. The combination with the blow striking members, of pneumatics provided with rods extending to and resting against said blow striking members, said pneumatics being normally in expanded condition, whereby the blow striking members are normally heldin relative short stroke positions, valve mechanism controlling said pneumatics, a tracker board and tubes leading therefrom to said valve mechanism, a rocking oscillating beam coperating with the rods of said pneumatics so as to shift said rods, and means for actuating said beam.

10. The combination with the piano hammers, of a series of pneumatics arranged in a substantially upright position, said pneumatics being normally in an expanded condition, rods having enlargements and eX- tending from said pneumatics to the piano hammers, and resting against the latter so as to hold the hammers normally in short stroke position, valve mechanism for said pneumatics, a tracker board and tubes leading therefrom to said valve mechanism, a rocking beam having an edge portion provided with a series of recesses adapted to receive said rods and to cooperate with the enlargements thereon, and mechanism for actuating said beam.

11. A mechanical musical instrument having blow striking members, and also having means for automatically controlling the length of stroke of its blow striking members so as to produce solo eifects, and also having means for the independent regulation of said striking members when in short stroke and long stroke positions.

12. A mechanical musical instrument having blow striking members and also having means for controlling the length of stroke oi' its blow striking members so as to produce solo effects, and also having means for the independent regulation of said striking members when in short stroke and long stroke positions.

13. A mechanical musical instrument having blow striking members and also having means for automatically varying the length ot' stroke of the blow striking members to produce solo effects, and also having means for varying the length of stroke of the striking members when in solo and non-solo position to bring about independent modulation of the solo and accompaniment.

14. In apparatus or' the kind described, the combination with the blow striking members, of means for holding the same normally in relatively short stroke position, means for automatically lengthening the stroke ot certain members to produce solo effects, means for varying the length of stroke of the members in non-solo position, a. source of pneumatic power, and means for varying the pneumatic pressure available to operate said members and for indicating said pressure.

15. In apparatus of the kind described, the combination with the blow striking members, of means for automatically controlling the length of the stroke thereof to produce solo effects, means for controlling the lenoth of stroke of the striking members in solo position, the last said means comprising an abutment movable to vary the long stroke positions of said blow striking members, mechanism for regulating the first said means to vary the length of stroke of the striking members in non-solo position, a source of pneumatic power, and means for varying the pneumatic pressure available to operate said blow striking members.

1G. The combination with the blow striking members, of pneumatics having means tor limiting the length of stroke of said members, stationary supporting means on which said pneumatics are mounted so as to be supported in a. stationary manner, a movable member extending crosswise of said blowv striking members and arranged to engage the same and to control their long stroke positions, mechanism for controlling the aforesaid stroke limiting means to thereby control the short stroke position of said blow striking members, and other pneumatics for actuating said blow striking members.

17. The combination with the blow striking members, of a Series of rods whose ends form abutments to shorten the stroke of said members, pneumatics for controlling said rods, valve mechanism controlling said pneumatics, a rocking member having means for engaging said rods and arranged to shift the rods when rocked, means for rocking said member, a tracker board, and tracker board tubes extending from the tracker board to said valve mechanism.

18. The combination with the blow striking members and stroke shortening pneumatics, of the rocking member 50, means for pivotally mounting the same, an arm 55 attached to said member 50, a. rod 56 pivotally connected with the arm 55, means for actuating the rod 56, and rods 19 interposed between the blow striking members and said pneumatic and engaged by said member 50 for limiting the throw of the blow striking members.

19. rlhe combination with the blow striking members, of means for controlling the length of stroke thereof comprising abutments located in the path of the blow striking members and arranged to stop the return movement of said blow striking members, means for shifting said abutments individually so as to produce solo effects, a shiftable member engaging said abutments and arranged to move the same to vary their stop positions, mechanism for operating said shiftable member comprising both a handle and means whereby the movement of the handle in one direction will cause said shiftable member to vary the positions of said abutments according to the extent of movement of said handle, and means whereby the movement of handle in the opposite direction will cause said shiftable member to throw said abutments out of action.

20. The combination with the rocking member 50, means for pivotally supporting the same, an arm 55 attached to said member 50, a rod 56 connected to the arm 55, a bell crank 57 having one of its arms connected to the rod 56, a rod 60 connected with the other arm of said bell crank, a lever 61 pivoted between its ends to the bed 5 and having one of its ends connected to the rod 60 and having its other end provided with a stop 64, a clip 65, a pivoted handle 63 having a bent end 66 connected by a rod 67 with a bell crank 68 pivoted at 69, the handle 63 being adapted to engage the stop 64.-, and the clip 65 being adapted to hold the lever 61 and the handle 68 in engagement.

21. The combination with the piano action, of pneumatic mechanism for operating said action, a tracker board having usual and supplemental apertures and tracker board tubes leading to said pneumatic mechanism, means for controlling the length of stroke of the hammers of said piano action, said means comprising pneumatic mechanism and coperating rods whose ends extend to said piano hammers and limit the return movements thereof, tracker tubes extending from said tracker board and the supplemental apertures thereof to said hammer controlling means, a beam 50 extending across the piano above the rods from the piano hammers and in front of said hammers, said beam 50 being provided with a downwardly projecting plate 51 having recesses 52 to receive said rods, which are provided with enlargements to engage said plate 51, uprights 53 with which the beam 50 is pivotally connected, an arm 55 carried by the beam 50, a rod 56 connected with the arm 55 and extended down in the piano case below the key bed, a bell crank 57 pivoted to the rear of the key bed and having one arm connected with the rod 56, a rod 60 connected with the other arm of the bell crank 57, a lever 61 connected with the rod 60, a handle 68 pivotally connected with the lever 61 and having a jointed portion 63a, a clip 65 engaging the lever 61, a bell crank 68 connected by a rod 67 with the bent end 66 of the handle 63, an arm 76 carried by the beam 50 and link 75 connecting the arm 76 with a shaft 73having an arm 72 connected with a rod 71 carrying a pointer 70 arranged in position to be observedv by the operator of the machine, and means for indicating the bellows or reservoir pressure.

22. A musical instrument having blow striking members and also having means whereby the stroke of its blow striking members may be lengthened for solo or accent effects, and also having means whereby the length of stroke of the striking members in accent and accompaniment position may be independently varied to modulate the solo and accompaniment independently.

23. A musical instrument having blow striking members and also having means whereby the stroke of its blow striking members may be lengthened for solo or accent effects, and also having means whereby the solo theme may be varied or modulated.

24. A musical instrument of the class specified having blow striking members and also having means whereby the strokes of its blow striking members may be lengthened for solo or accent effects, and also having means whereby the accompaniment may be varied or modulated.

25. A mechanical musical instrument intended to be operated by a traveling music sheet and having means for lengthening the stroke of certain of its blow striking members to produce solo or accentuated effects, and also having means whereby the solo theme and accompaniment may be independently varied or modulated.

26. A mechanical musical instrument intended to be operated by a traveling music sheet and having means for producing solo effects by controlling the length of stroke of its blow striking members, and also having means for producing independent modulation of the solo theme and the accompaniment by controlling the strokes of the solo and accompaniment members independently of one another.

27. A mechanical musical instrument of the class described constructed to be operated by a traveling music sheet and having blovv striking members, and having' means for producing solo effects comprising a series of stops limiting the return movements of said members, and means for independently controlling said stops to lengthen the strokes of certain of said members to produce solo effects, said instrument also having an instrumentality for controlling said stops collectively to regulate the throw of the members having the limited length of stroke and Which are therefore unaccentuated or accompaniment members, and also having an instrumentality for controlling the length of stroke of the members Whose strokes are lengthened by the independent control of said stops to produce solo effects, said last mentioned instrumentality being independent of said stops and their 4action whereby the solo theme may be modulated.

28. A. player piano having a series of pneumatics provided With stops for limiting the return movement of the hammers, and also having provisions for actuating said pneumatics to Withdraw the limiting stops to produce solo effects, and also having a hammer rail with actuating mechanism to control the length of stroke of the hammers, stops for which have been Withdrawn to produce solo effects, and means for controlling the position of said stops to vary or modulate the accompaniment theme.

29. A player piano having a series of pneumatics provided with stops to limit the return movement of the piano hammers, and also having valve mechanism and tracker board connections for automatically controlling said pneumatics through the instrumentality of the music sheet and tracker board to withdraw the limiting stops to cause the lengthening of certain hammer strokes to produce solo effects, said instrument also having a hammer rail and means for actuating the same to vary the length of stroke so as to modulate the solo or accentuated theme, and also having a member With.

mechanism for actuating it, said member being arranged to control the position of said stops and thereby vary or modulate the accompaniment independent of the action of said pneumatics in producing solo or accentuated effects.

30. A player piano having striking pneumatics arranged above the piano keys and provided with levers for operating the piano action, valve mechanism for said pneumatics also arranged above the piano keys and comprising a structure serving to support said pneumatics, a tracker board and tracker board connections from the same to said valve mechanism, a set of supplemental or solo pneumatics arranged above said str iking pneumatics, valve mechanism for said supplemental or solo pneumatics and tracker board connections between the same and the tracker board, a series of stops controlled by said supplemental or solo pneumatics and arranged in front of the piano hammers, so as to limit the return movement or stroke thereof, an oscillating part with actuating mechanism therefor, for controlling the position of said stops taken collectively, and a hammer rail with actuating mechanism for limiting the return movement of said hammers independently of the action of the solo pneumatics and their stops.

3l. The combination of means f or producing solo or accent effects, means for controlling the solo theme and accompaniment independently, and means for indicating such solo and accompaniment modulation.

32. The combination with the piano hammers and the pneumatics having means for limiting the return movements of said hammers and varying such movements to produce solo effects, an oscillating member arranged to control the action of said pneumatics to vary the length to which said pneumatics limit the return movements of said hammers, a pointer and connections, between said pointer and said oscillating member.

33. The combination With the piano hammers and the pneumatics having means for limiting the return movements of said hammers and varying such movements to produce solo effects, an oscillating member arranged to control the action of said pneumatics to vary the length to which said pneumatics limit the return movements of said hammers, a pointer, connections between said pointer and said oscillating member, and means for actuating said oscillating member to cause 'aid pointer to follow a modulation line on the'music sheet.

84. A player piano or like instrument having means for producing solo effects by controlling the length of stroke of the hammers of the piano action, and also having means for varying the effective length of hammer stroke so as to modulate the solo theme.

35. A player piano or like instrument having means for producing solo effects by controlling the length of stroke of the hammers of the piano action, and also having means for varying the effective length of hammer stroke to modulate the accompaniment.

36. A player piano or like instrument havlli ing means for producing solo effects by automatically controlling the length of stroke of the hammers of the piano action through the instrumentality of the music sheet, and also having means for independently vary- `ing the effect-ive length of stroke of the hammers for solo theme and accompaniment.

37. A player piano having means for producing solo effects by automatically controlling the length of stroke of the hammers by acting upon the piano action between the strings and the striking pneumatics, and also having means for modulating the solo theme by varying the effective length of hammer stroke.

38. A player piano having means for producing solo effects by automatically controlling the length of hammer stroke by acting upon the piano action between the strings and the striking pneumatics, and also having' means for modulating the accompaniment by varying the effective length of hammer stroke.

39. A player piano or like instrument having means for producing solo effects by controlling the length of stroke of the hammers by acting upon the piano action between the strings and striking pneumatics, and also having means for modulating the solo theme and accompaniment independently by varying the effective lengthv of hammer stroke.

40. In apparatus ofthe class specified, the combination with the piano hammers, of rods arranged in front of the hammers and adapted to serve as abutments therefor, a support serving as a guide for said rods, and pneumatics for actuating said rods to move them in a direction toward and away from the hammers.

41. In apparatus of the class specified, the combination with the piano hammers, of rods arranged in front of the hammers and adapted to serve as abutments therefor, a support serving as a guide for said rods, pneumatics for actuating said rods to move them in a direction toward and away from the hammers, and an oscillating` beam 50 having one edge provided with a rack arrangement adapted to engage said rods.

42. A player piano having means whereby the music sheet automatically controls the length of stroke of the piano hammers, said means being adapted to give certain hammers long strokes while others have short strokes and being also adapted to cause the hammers to be first positioned for long or short strokes and to be then actuated, and means for varying the length of both long and short strokes of the hammers.

43. In an instrument of the class specified, the combination of note sounding mechanism, a tracker having a plurality of parallel rows of apertures, means controlled through one or more apertures of one of said rows for operating said mechanism, and

means controlled through one or more apertures of the other of said rows for adjusting said mechanism to vary the effect of the first named means upon said mechanism.

44. In an instrument of the class specified,

the combination with note sounding mechanism, of a tracker having a plurality of parallel rows of apertures, means controlled through one or more apertures of one of saidv rows for operating said mechanism, and means controlled through one or more apertures of the other of said rows for changing said mechanism to vary the operation of the same.

45. The combination of a tracker having a plurality of parallel rows of apertures, blow striking devices, means controlled through apertures of one of said rows for operating said devices, and means controlled through apertures of the other of said rows for controlling said devices so as to vary the effect of said operating means upon the same.

46. rlhe combination with blow striking members, of a tracker having front and rear rows of apertures, pneumatics connected with one of said rows of apertures for operating said blow striking members, and a second set of pneumatics connected with the other row of apertures and combined with means for changing the length of stroke of said blow striking members.

47. The combination with blow striking devices, of a tracker having front and rear rows of apertures, pneumatics connected with the front row of apertures for operating said blow striking devices, and a second set of pneumatics connected with the back row of apertures and combined with means for changing the length of stroke of said blow striking devices.

48. The combination with a piano action, of a tracker having front and rear rows of apertures, a set of pneumatics for acting upon the piano action to operate the hammers thereof, said pneumatics being connected with the front row of tracker apertures, a second set of pneumatics connected with the rear row of tracker apertures, and mechanism controlled by said second set of pneumatics for controlling the extent of movement of the piano action.

49. The combination with a piano action, of a tracker having front and rear rows of apertures, a set of pneumatics for acting l upon th'e piano action to operate the hammers thereof, said pneumatics being connected with the front row of tracker apertures, a second set of pneumatics connected with the rear row of tracker apertures, and

mechanism controlled by said second set of pneumatics for changing the extent of movement of the piano action.

50. The combination withv the piano action, of a tracker having two rows of apertures, pneumatic mechanism connected with one of said rows of apertures for operating said piano action and other pneumatic mechanism connected with the other of said rows of apertures for controlling the eii'ect of said first mentioned pneumatic mechanism.

51. The combination with a tracker and a traveling music sheet, of means controlled by certain note sounding perforations of said sheet for adjusting the position of the hammers preparatory to the actuation of said hammers to sound a note.

52. The combination with a tracker, a traveling music sheet, and note sounding mechanism, of means controlled by note sounding perforations of said music sheet for automatically setting said mechanism preparatory for operation, and means for operating said mechanism after being set.

53. The combination with a tracker, a traveling music sheet, and note sounding mechanism, of means controlled by note sounding perforations in said music sheet for automatically changing the relationship of the parts of said mechanism prior to operation, and means for operating said mechanism after being so changed.

54. The combination with the piano hammers of pneumatically operated devices for individually controlling the length of stroke of said hammers, a hammer rest rail, and means operating independently of said hammer rail and said devices for controlling the length of stroke of said hammers collectively.

55. The combination with the piano hammers of shiftable abutments and pneumatics controlling the same for independently governing the length of stroke of said hammers, a hammer rest rail, and an adjustable member in combination with means whereby the same may engage all of said shiftable abutments to collectively control the position of said hammers independently of said hammer rail and said pneumatics.

56. The combination with the piano hammers, of a hammer rest rail, means for controlling the position of said hammers individually, and other means for controlling the position of said hammers collectively.

57. The combination with a set of striking devices, of pneumatically controlled mechanism for regulating the length of stroke of said striking devices individually, a shiftable member adapted to be moved into different positions to regulate the throw of all of said striking devices, and a second shiftable member also capable of adjustment and having means for engagement with said pneumatically operated mechanism so as to coperate with the same in regulating the throw of said striking devices.

58. The combination with the piano hammers, of a hammer rest rail, pneumatic mechanism for controlling the positions of said hammers individually, and an adjustable member arranged to coperate with said pneumatically operated mechanism and provided with means for limiting the extent of individual control of said hammers by said mechanism.

59. The combination with the piano hammers and the hammer rest rail, of means for regulating the length of stroke of said hammers individually, and means for determining the extent of such individual regulation.

60. The combination with the piano hammers, of a series of shiftable abutments arranged to control the length of stroke of said hammers, pneumatics individually controlling said abutments, and an adjustable member combined with means for engaging said abutments so as to permit said abutments to be collectively shifted to determine the extent of regulation to be exercised by said pneumatics.

61. The combination with the piano hammers, of a series of abutments for limiting the hammer strokes, pneumatics for operating said abutments, a movable element, and flexible means acting upon adjustment of said element to move said abutments toward said hammers.

In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name this 2nd day of April, A. D. 1910.

PAUL BROWN KLUGH.

lVitnesses:

J. CLARKE HAGEY, W. D. ToBiN.

Copies of thi: patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

